Lagos — Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Ade Alabi yesterday said that it was now an offence under new Lagos State Criminal Procedure Rules for the police to arrest anybody else in lieu of a suspect.

Justice Alabi while briefing the press in Lagos on the amendment of the Administration of Criminal Justice Procedure Law of Lagos State, listed the category of people to include; wife, husband, son, brother, sister, co-worker or even neighbours for an offence committed by another person.

He added that taking of confessional statements by the police shall be recorded on video and produced at the trial and where there is no video facility, such confessional statement must be obtained from the suspect in the presence of his lawyer.

According to him, the new Administration of Criminal Justice Law, which came into force on May 28, 2007, was aimed at improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the criminal justice system in bringing offences and offenders to justice and also to increase public confidence in the fairness and effectiveness of the system.

"The pursuit of criminal justice is essentially the pursuit of an ideal. Throughout history, criminal justice has taken on many different forms, which often reflect the cultural mores of society. Social circumstances in any society can never be static, that is why the Law must be amended from time to time and the institutions must be adjusted to meet the needs of the society ", he said.

The Chief Judge noted that it is mandatory that a person arrested for committing an offence be informed by the police immediately on arrest of his constitutional right to remain silent and not answer any question or make any statement until he has consulted his lawyer or applied for free legal services.

Police officers in charge of police stations are now under the new law, required to report arrests and detention without warrant to the nearest Magistrate whether such person is admitted to bail or not.

The new law in Section 10(3) has also made it mandatory that the Attorney-General of the state be informed of all arrests in relation to state offences by the Commissioner of Police every week.

Other amendments in the rule among other things include: "Private persons now have the power to arrest persons suspected to have committed offences in their presence including those who damage public property; it is now available to a prosecutor and the defendant to enter into plea bargaining and sentence bargaining arrangement; no more application for stay of proceedings until after final judgment is delivered; it is now available for the court to commit a defender to render community service instead of custodial sentence; no person shall be denied or prevented or restricted from entering into recognisance or standing as surety or providing any security on the ground that the person is a woman and all Magistrate of Magistrates Court in Lagos State shall henceforth be addressed as "Your Honour"."